Three Texas lawmakers intervene in Supreme Court case to support public prayer

The cross on the steeple of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Henryville, Ind. (Michael Conroy/AP Photo)

Texas Reps. Lamar Smith, Louie Gohmert and Randy Neugebauer are among 49 lawmakers who have signed on to support a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case of Town of Greece v. Susan Galloway and Linda Stephens.

Previously, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled in favor of Galloway that public prayer before town meetings in Greece was a violation of the First Amendment.

The Family Research Council’s Alliance Defending Freedom submitted the amicus brief on behalf of the 49 lawmakers, arguing that the public prayer said before the town meetings in Greece is very similar to the legislative prayers before the U.S. House of Representatives.

The three Texans are all Republican social conservatives. Smith hails from San Antonio, Gohmert lives in Tyler and Neugebauer represents Lubbock.

Ken Klukowski, director of the Center for Religious Liberty at the Family Research Council, wrote in the brief:

“While no written prayers from the First Congress survive, other contemporaneous public prayers suggest the sort of content found in early legislative prayers. Similar prayers are offered in Congress today. If the Second Circuit’s rule were correct, then Congress would have been violating the Constitution for more than two centuries.”